Young hockey star plays for GB in US

Teenager Juan Stone jetted off to America this week to represent Great Britain at roller hockey.

Juan, 17, from Everdon, is playing for Team GB’s U16 inline hockey team against teams from around the world in a tournament being staged in Las Vegas.

Juan only took up the sport in 2012 and plays regularly for MK Seniors.

He also plays ice hockey for Thunder, another Milton Keynes-based team.

Speaking before he left the country, Juan said: “It was amazing to be selected to play for Team GB because I have only been playing roller hockey for two years and ice hockey for three years.

“I took up roller hockey to get better at ice hockey and playing in this tournament will be an important stepping stone for me.

“My ultimate goal is to become a professional ice hockey player.

“I have no plan to achieve that apart from just getting better and better at my game.”

Juan, a student at Daventry Tertiary College, plays hockey and trains in the gym at least five days a week. He added: “All my friends call me an adrenaline-junkie because I love doing anything that’s fast and dangerous.

“I like playing ice hockey because it’s physical and aggressive.

“After I played it for the first time I was hooked.”

With no funding available, Juan’s mother Ley had to raise £4,000 to pay for flights, hotels and new kit before he could take up his place in the GB squad.

She raised the money through her work as a children’s entertainer and crowd fundraising online.

Juan was also awarded grants and donations, the biggest of which was £400 from the Northamptonshire Community Foundation.

Ley, who is chaper­oning her son in the US, said: “We would never have raised this amount of money in such a short space of time without the generous support of the local community.”